Admissions

LREI seeks to enroll students who are bright, curious, motivated and who show strong academic promise. The School is committed to creating an environment that is reflective of the wider community by enrolling students from diverse religious, ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds and gender identities. Creating this diverse student body fosters opportunities for deeper cultural learning and understanding.

We Are LREI

Welcome to LREI. We are now, as we have always been, guided by our school's mission. As a truly progressive school community, we never shy away from the challenges and the possibilities of change and growth. It is this bold, experimental, progressive vision of education that continues to inspire and guide the LREI community today. What we did yesterday, what we are doing today, and what we will do tomorrow are all a part of a coherent 14-year experience inspired by our mission.

Academics

Since its founding, the LREI experience has been grounded in progressive principles that shape the design of program in each of our divisions. These principles place students at the center of their learning experiences, call on us to narrow the distance between the world around students and their school experiences, and engage learners in authentic problem solving on a daily basis. Our mission driven approach informs all aspects of our 14-year experience.

Life @ LREI

Our founding ideals of learning that is grounded in experience, inquiry, collaboration, growth and active democratic citizenship inform every aspect of daily life at LREI. LREI truly is a community of learners; it is a place where students, faculty and families come together each day in the spirit of creativity, collaboration and consequence.

Our Community

LREI is a community built on understanding and respect for others. Like New York City, we are diverse in every sense of the word. We are scientists, artists, historians and more. We embody a wide range of interests, beliefs, family structures and backgrounds. We thrive on the unique ideas and perspectives each person brings to the school.

The Cyclical Nature of the School Year

Dear Lower School Families,

One of the great ironies of the cyclical nature of the school year is the simple fact that the last day of school, a day which represents the moment of most familiarity and independence in a particular school year is followed by the first day of the following school year, a time during which so many things are new and the learning curve is the steepest. The autonomy with which students navigate their learning experiences by the end of the year is essential to the educative process. The journey between those two points is the work of the year, for teachers, students, and families. It is a truly miraculous process that is anchored in the efforts at the beginning of the school year.

The first six weeks of school represent an important and distinct period in the life of the classroom. This is a time of introduction and integration to the expectations that will shape the ways in which students will interact with each other and the adults in the community, with their physical environment, and with their learning all while delving ever more deeply into our progressive program. In essence, children are learning to care for themselves and for others, and teachers work with intention to make this happen. This care comes as a result of the time spent building connections to members of the community. If you were to walk into one of the classrooms over the past two days, you would hear the sounds of children greeting each other by name during Morning Meeting, playing a few rounds of “Just Like Me,” a game in which children stand when they have a connection to something a peer or teacher shared with the group, building cooperatively with found materials, offering advice to one another as they learn to set the cafeteria lunch tables for the first time, or practicing taking turns and listening to each other during a group discussion. Each of these moments, though seemingly small, represent a building block in the creation of a community of independent learners.

As partners in this work of the first six weeks of school, your questions and connections about the learning that your children are doing with respect to becoming engaged community members will reinforce the importance of this time for the children. In addition to asking your children what they learned in math or reading, it is important to also ask what they learned about the routines and responsibilities of their class, and what they learned about being a caring community member. A simple question such as, “How did you take care of the people (children and adults) in your class today?” can open up amazing conversations.

At a time during which connections among members of our national and global communities are fraying, we are constantly working toward purposeful community building in the service of developing authentic relationships with each other and a shared passion for learning. I look forward to engaging in this work with you.